Building an Organizational Sustainable Identity: An Exploratory Analysis of Brazilian Coffee Producers

This study aims to advance the understanding of organizational sustainable identity, situated within the academic discourse on sustainable development. By bridging organizational identity theory with sustainability literature, the research examines how firms in the Brazilian coffee industry integrate economic, social, and environmental dimensions to construct a sustainable identity. Adhering to the principles of narrative inquiry, in-depth semi-structured interviews with 26 firms are carried out, exploring the key pathways that lead to the formulation of an organizational sustainable identity. The empirical findings show distinct patterns and mechanisms by which firms assimilate sustainability into their operational and strategic paradigms, thus shaping their organizational identity towards a sustainable trajectory. The study contributes an exploratory framework that elucidates the complex process of organizational sustainable identity formation.